Mount Rushmore And Crazy Horse: Discovering The Spirit Of The Black Hills Mount Rushmore And Crazy Horse: Discovering The Spirit Of The Black Hills Ellen Von Weigand Resting among the awe-inspiring Black Hills of South Dakota , Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse tell the complex story of the founding of American democracy. Their co-existence within these mountains, the sacred lands of the Great Sioux Nation, is highly symbolic of the controversy surrounding European settlers’ brutal conquering of Native American land. © United States Government Officer/WikiCommons Carved out of the side of a granite mountain in the Black Hills of South Dakota , Mount Rushmore was built as a memorial to the story of democracy in America . The country’s most famous monument is visited by nearly two million people each year; many come for its impressive scale and astounding beauty and leave with a new understanding of the spiritual significance of this land. What is often lost when one considers Mount Rushmore outside of the context of the Black Hills, is the sculpture’s symbolic ties to the Native American tribes who once lived within this stunning expanse of country.

The idea to build a memorial dedicated to four of the greatest American presidents was conceived of by Doane Robinson of the South Dakota Historical Society in order to attract tourism to the state. He approached the artist Gutzon Borglum to craft the design for the project, who subsequently selected as a site the piece of mountain known to the Native American Indians as the Six Grandfathers. During a 14-year period workers buldozed, blazed and chiselled the towering 60-ft tall heads of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln into the fabric of the earth’s surface. Started in October of 1927, Borglum spent the remaining years of his life dedicated to his masterpiece, until his death in 1941. Gutzon Borglum. © Unidentified Photographer/WikiCommons The artist, son of Mormon Danish immigrants who practiced religious polygamy, selected the four figures for their symbolic significance. George Washington was chosen for his commitment to the independence of the country, Thomas Jefferson for his struggle to create a government for and by the people, Abraham Lincoln for his ideas on equality and dedication to the union, and Theodore Roosevelt for his active role in United States foreign affairs.

The monument is truly American in its ardor, immensity and chosen subject matter. Yet this iconic mountain has a complex history and is seen by many as a looming reminder of the white man’s betrayal of the Native American people. Conflict between the American government and the Lakota tribes of the Great Sioux Nation, long time occupiers of the Paha Sapa, or the Black Hills, lasted longer than any other of the American Westward conquest. An 1864 treaty made these sacred hills part of the Great Sioux Reservation, but the presence of gold in the area lead to the complete disregard of this agreement, as General Custer brought in the gold rush in 1874. In 1948 Lakota chief Standing Bear commissioned an alternative sculpture just a few miles from the site of Mount Rushmore. He did so stating his desire to let the “white man know, that the red man has great heroes too.” The sculpture, depicting revered Lakota chief Crazy Horse , will stand at 563 ft high and 641 long once completed, and will exist as the largest monument in the world.

Choosing Polish -American sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski for the task, Standing Bear requested that the endeavor be a non-profit, educational and cultural humanitarian project, financed by donations of the public rather than through government funding. Although the US government twice offered sums of 10 million dollars’ worth of federal aid, Ziolkowski kept his word to the Lakota chief, and denied the gift. In addition to the sculpture itself, the humanitarian vision for the site includes the Indian Museum of North America , as well as the University and medical training centre for the North American Indian. Ziolkowski initially suggested that he produce the monument in the hills of Wyoming because the stone there could be more easily carved, but Standing Bear insisted that it rest amongst the Black Hills as a reminder of the remarkable people who once roamed this land. © Jim Bowen/Flickr Crazy Horse was selected as the subject for his extreme demonstration of resistance against the defeat of his people, and his willingness to give his own life for those in his community. This elusive figure resisted being photographed and requested to be buried without a headstone where he would not be found. His ancestors recognise his spirit in the land itself, and his immortalisation within the mountain is a metaphoric tribute to this spirit.

Said to have proclaimed: “My lands are where my dead lay buried”, his outstretched arm reaching towards the horizon is emblematic of this declaration. Following 36 years of lone dedicated service to the memorial, Ziolkowski died in 1982. In his wake, his legacy has been carried out by his children who, like their father, have given their lives to this cause. Although much progress has been made in the years since work was begun, Crazy Horse is likely to take several more lifetimes to complete. Well aware of the scale of the undertaking, the sculptor laid out extensive plans for those who would follow him. © Mike Tigas/Flickr In 2004 Mount Rushmore National Memorial appointed Gerard Baker as the first American Indian superintendent of the grounds of the presidential monument. By educating visitors on the Native people who once lived on these lands, Baker hopes to generate a broader view by presented multiple sides of Mount Rushmore’s layered history. Through his dedication to the project, Baker has visited reservations to speak with tribes about what stories they would like told.

In addition, Rushmore now has Lakota teepees where Native American guides offer visitors the tales of their ancestors, and audio guides are available in the Lakota language. The vision of Mount Rushmore as a monument to democracy extends beyond the story of the four presidents to all of those individuals that are directly or indirectly represented by them. By generating understanding, Baker hopes to encourage the healing process between the descendents of these American Indians and European settlers who now collectively call themselves Americans. 1000+ images about Crazy Horse Memorial on Pinterest | 10 year anniversary, Lands in and Decks Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski and Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear officially started Crazy Horse Memorial June 3, 1948. South Dakota Saw the real deal in 2009. Truly amazing to see (and project isn't complete). More 1000+ images about Scenes from South Dakota on Pinterest | Pheasant hunting, Lee friedlander and The black Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski and Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear officially started Crazy Horse Memorial June 3, 1948.

South Dakota More Memorial Monument for Oglala Lakota Warrior Chief "Crazy H… | Flickr Memorial Monument for Oglala Lakota Warrior Chief "Crazy Horse" From Wikipedia : Crazy Horse is commemorated by the incomplete Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota near the town of Berne—a monument carved into a mountain, in the tradition of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial (on which Korczak Ziółkowski had worked with Gutzon Borglum). The sculpture was begun by Ziółkowski in 1948. Plans call for the completed monument to be 641 feet (195 m) wide and 563 feet (172 m) high. Crazy Horse has also been honored by having two highways named the Crazy Horse Memorial Highway. In South Dakota, the SDDOT designated US-16/US-385 between Custer and Hill City, which passes by the Crazy Horse Memorial. In November 2010, Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman approved designating US-20 from Hay Springs to Fort Robinson in honor of Crazy Horse, capping a year-long effort by citizens of Chadron.

The designation may extend east another 100 miles through Cherry County to Valentine.[36] In 1924, Crazy Horse Monument sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski had worked under master sculptor Gutzon Borglum on the Mount Rushmore memorial. Ziolkowski was inspired to create the Crazy Horse Monument after receiving a letter from native Indian Chief Henry Standing Bear, who asked if Ziolkowski would be interested in creating a monument for the native North Americans to show that the Indian nations also have their heroes. The Native Americans consider Thunderhead Mountain, where the monument is being carved, to be sacred ground. Thunderhead Mountain is situated between Custer City and Hill City. The location of Crazy Horse Monument is about 8 miles away from Mount Rushmore.

The finished dimensions of the Crazy Horse memorial are expected to be approximately 641 feet (195 meters) wide and 563 feet (172 meters) tall.[37] When the Crazy Horse Monument is finished, the head of Chief Crazy Horse will be the world’s largest sculpture of the human head measuring approximately 87 feet (27 meters) tall, more than 27 feet taller than the 60-foot faces of the US Presidents carved in the side of Mount Rushmore. Upon completion, the Chief Crazy Horse Monument will be the largest sculpture in the world. The blasting continues and the memorial is a work in progress, dependent upon donations and private funding only. Although the US Government has offered to help fund the construction of the Chief Crazy Horse Monument on several occasions, Ziokowski and his successors have declined.[38] Since Ziokowski's death in 1982, the project has been under the direction of the non-profit Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation, which has chosen to honor Ziokowski's intention of aiming for higher educational and cultural goals by keeping the funding of the project private.

With the help of the foundation the work continues and is overseen by Ziolkowski's wife, Ruth, and their 10 children. There is no target completion date at this time; however, in 1998, the face of Crazy Horse was completed and dedicated. The Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation regularly takes the lead in cultural, social and educational events, including the Volksmarch, the occasion on which the public is allowed into the actual monument grounds. Visitors and enthusiasts of this event have grown to 15,000 annually. The foundation generates most of its funds from its visitor fees, with visitors numbering more than a million yearly.[38] The Crazy Horse South Dakota monument has been the subject of controversy. The sculpted likeness of Chief Crazy Horse is dedicated to the spirit of Crazy Horse and all Native Americans. It is well known that Crazy Horse did not want to be photographed during his lifetime and is reportedly buried in an undisclosed location. While Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear believed in the sincerity of the motives, many Native Americans are still against this memorial.

Some of the people who knew the history of Crazy Horse likened the monument to pollution and desecration of the landscape and environment of the national park and its vicinity.[39] Done Chief Crazy Horse Memorial, Crazy Horse, South Dakota Chief Crazy Horse Memorial Crazy Horse, South Dakota Chief Crazy Horse is crazy big. When we first saw this immense project, years ago, it was a ragged mountainside with a theoretical destiny set in the unknowable future. Now the sculpture has a giant head, and even simpletons like us can see that it's destined for the greatness achieved by all things too big to hide with a fence or tall shrubbery. Clouds race across its cheeks. Sunlight dapples its hairline. Crazy Horse's head is bigger than the four heads down the road -- that gaggle of granite white men that formerly got all of the attention in the Black Hills. In fact, it's bigger than all four of those heads combined. And Chief Crazy Horse will eventually be much more than a head. Crazy Horse's handlers stress that the monument has a noble purpose, but anything built on such a super-sized scale has some Barnum in it.

The intent of this, the World's Largest Sculpture, has always been in part to get attention. It was begun in 1948 -- not by a relative of Crazy Horse, but by a Polish-American from Boston named Korczak Ziolkowski (KOR-chok shul-KOF-skee). He was chosen by a group of Lakota elders because he had worked at Mt Rushmore, and because he had won a sculpting prize at the 1939 New York World's Fair. And, also, because he was born 31 years to the day after Crazy Horse had been murdered. Odd criteria, maybe, but Korczak proved to be the perfect choice: he had grand plans, a strong back, and he was willing to devote the rest of his life to the project. When Korczak died in 1982, his wife and ten children continued the work. Now the grandchildren are blasting and jackhammering as well. Even from the Visitor's Center a mile away, Crazy Horse is huge. When finished -- and no one has any idea what century that will be in -- the sculpture will be 563 feet high and 641 feet long.

To get an up-close look at the head, you have to visit on the first full weekend in June, when tourists are allowed to walk the six miles to the top of the mountain and back (During the rest of the year, the closest that you can get to the head is a seat on a bus that drives you to the foot of the mountain). Crazy Horse's 88-foot-tall face looks dazed at a pimple's distance; his eyes are 18 feet across; his nostrils are each wider than some commercial cave entrances. Gigantic isn't necessarily flattering, but it also isn't the point. Most of the sculpting at Crazy Horse is done with dynamite, and progress is measured in tons of rock blown away per week. Blasts are planned for all major holidays during the non-blizzard months; otherwise visitors get 30 minutes notice before part of the mountain explodes. Elaborately choreographed night blasts mark Korczak and his wife's birthdays. A lightning strike on a truckload of nitro could mean bye-bye Crazy Horse, so ominous clouds usually bring an end to the days' work -- as does snow or a simple lack of cash.

Despite offers of millions of dollars, the folks at Crazy Horse have refused all government funding. They explain that the U.S. has a bad record of keeping promises to Indians. There's much more here than the giant sculpture, such as a museum of Korczak's old hammers and pickaxes, a gallery of his other artwork, and an Indian Museum of North America that Korczak and his family built one winter as an outlet for their unflagging energy. From a viewing veranda you can gauge progress on the mountain by comparing it to Korczak's 1/34 scale plaster model. And the last stop out the door is the "Rock Box," a large bin of chunks blasted from the mountain that visitors are free to take as souvenirs. Crazy Horse is being sculpted into pegmatite granite, and no one knows how long it will all hold together. But odds are that when aliens reach earth after civilization has destroyed itself, the biggest man-made thing that they will find will be Crazy Horse. "This," they will say, "must have been the most important person on this planet." And Korczak and his Indian pals would have made their point.

Chief Crazy Horse Memorial The 50 States:South Dakota- TeachersFirst Show Bird and Flower Geography and Landforms: South Dakota is bordered by North Dakota to the north and by Nebraska to the south. On the east, South Dakota borders Minnesota and Iowa, and on the west, it borders Montana and Wyoming. The highest point in South Dakota is Harney Peak at 7242 feet above sea level. Major rivers include the Cheyenne, the Missouri, the James and the White Rivers. South Dakota has some of the earliest geologic history on the continent in the rock formations of the Black Hills and the Badlands. The Missouri River cuts through the center of the state. To the east of the river are low hills and lakes formed by glaciers. The land here is fertile and farms are prevalent. This area is referred to as the Drift Prairie. The Dissected Till Plains lie in the southeastern corner of the state and consist of rolling hills crossed by streams. The Great Plains cover most of the western two-thirds of the state, and the landscape is more rugged. There are rolling hills, plains, canyons and steep flat-topped hills called buttes which can rise 400-600 feet above the plains.

In the south, east of the Black Hills lie the Badlands. The Black Hills themselves are rich in minerals such as gold, silver, copper, and lead. The Black Hills are also home to Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial. History: The first European explorers to travel through the area that is now South Dakota were French. Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Verendrye, and his two sons, Louis-Joseph and Francois, were in search of a water route from the Hudson Bay to the Pacific Ocean and explored extensively through Canada before finding their way to the Missouri River and the Dakota plains. While they were camping along the Missouri River in 1741, they buried a lead plate near the Bad River with an inscription that honored the King of France, Louis XV. The area came under French, Spanish and British control at various times during the 18th century. For example, the land went from French to British hands after the Treaty of Paris ended the French and Indian War. The British then gave the land back to the French and then the United States bought the land from France in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.

Between 1804 and 1806 Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led an expedition to explore the new Louisiana Territory, starting in St. Louis and continuing on to the Pacific Ocean. While they were camped near the mouth of the Bad River in 1804, they raised the United States flag, the first time that flag was flown over South Dakota. The principal attraction for explorers and settlers in the area of South Dakota was the fur trade. In 1817, Joseph LaFramboise began a trading post near the present-day city of Fort Pierre. The post marks the beginning of permanent white settlements in South Dakota. The fur trade forever changed the lives of the native people who lived in the area. Trading with white explorers and fur traders brought the Indians an easier way of life, but made them dependent on the trade for their livelihood. By 1825, conflict between white settlers and Indians led to the signing of treaties with a number of the tribes there. Fur traders began to build forts in the area to protect their interests.

Pierre Chouteau built Fort Pierre in 1831, and the fort was bought by the US Army in 1855 for use as a military post. In 1861, Congress established Dakota Territory including the present states of North and South Dakota, Montana and most of Wyoming. In 1874, there were rumors of gold discovered in the Black Hills, and gold seekers began to pour into the area, despite the fact that the region had been granted to the Sioux by treaty. The Sioux refused to sell the mining rights and warfare broke out again. Even the defeat of George Armstrong Custer in 1876 by a coalition of tribes led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse did not stop white settlers from gradually seizing more and more land from the Native Americans. Eventually, the combination of the near-extinction of the buffalo herds, the death of Sitting Bull and the massacre of Native Americans at Wounded Knee Creek, meant the end of Native American resistance in South Dakota. Gold fever mounted, and the influx of gold miners into the area led others to begin cattle ranching in order to provide food for the miners.

In addition, the building of the railroads through the state brought enough settlement that people began to ask that South Dakota become a state. In 1889, Dakota Territory was separated into North and South Dakota and both earned statehood. Economy: South Dakota has long been an agricultural state, and although it is still an important part of the economy and the culture, farming no longer leads the state in employment. Nonetheless, South Dakota is the second-largest producer of flaxseed and sunflower seed in the nation, and the third largest producer of hay and rye. Corn, soybeans, oats and wheat are the chief cash crops. About one third of the region west of the Missouri River belongs to Native Americans living on reservations. Most of the remaining area is occupied by large ranches raising cattle and sheep. Meatpacking and food processing are major industries in South Dakota. Gold is South Dakota's most important mineral, with the town of Lead in the Black Hills as the United States' leading gold-mining center. Tourism, particularly around Mt. Rushmore and the Black Hills, is also a major source of income.

First Inhabitants: Archaeologists have found evidence that a band of Paleo-Indians hunted and killed two mammoths around 11,000 years ago in a swampy area that would eventually become the Badlands area of South Dakota. These are first South Dakotans we know of. It is believed these people were part of a group called the Clovis people who were centered in New Mexico. We know from artifacts that they made arrowheads for hunting, but we know very little else about these people. There is also evidence of another group of people, hundreds of years later, living in South Dakota. By this time, the land had changed and the swamps were now wide plains which supported large herds of giant buffalo (bison). These people, called the Folsom people, hunted the bison and also lived on wild onions and prairie turnips. They made beautiful arrowheads that they used for hunting. Again, we do not know what happened to these people or why their culture died out. After several more centuries passed, the climate became warmer and drier. A new people, called the Plains Archaic people, migrated to the area.

By this time, the giant buffalo had died out and were replaced by smaller bison which these new people hunted along with deer and rabbits. These people also learned how to store food for times of drought, and lived in small groups because the land could not support large settlements. This group also left the first written records in South Dakota in the form of images carved into the walls of caves. These symbols and pictures are called petroglyphs. By about three thousand years ago, another group of people came to live and hunt in the area. This group, called the Woodland people, lived in larger groups. They were much more successful in hunting the American bison that lived on the land. They also traded with groups living further to the east, and honored their dead by building burial mounds. They lived in houses built of sod and grew corn, pumpkins, sunflowers, squash, tobacco and beans. By the time the first Europeans arrived in the area, these people could be grouped into different tribes, including the Arikaras, the Mandans, Crows, the Cheyenne, and the Pawnee.

Eventually, the Dakota, Lakota and Nakota (later known as the Sioux) people moved into the area from Wisconsin and other more eastern areas. Books Related To South Dakota South Dakota - U.S. States - HISTORY.com South Dakota A+E Networks Introduction The territory that would become South Dakota was added to the United States in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase.The first permanent American settlement was established at Fort Pierre by the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1804.White settlement of the territory in the 1800sled to clashes with the Sioux, as some of the land had been granted to the tribe by an earlier treaty. Nevertheless, the territory was incorporated into the union on November 2, 1889, along with North Dakota. Due to a controversy over which state would be admitted to the union first, President Benjamin Harrison shuffled the bills and signed one at random, with the order going unrecorded, though North Dakota is traditionally listed first. Today, a major part of South Dakota’s economy is fueled by tourism–visitors flock to the state to see Mt. Rushmore, which features 60-foot-tall sculptures of the faces of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln.

Famous South Dakotans include newscaster Tom Brokaw, senator and vice president Hubert Humphrey and model-actress Cheryl Ladd. Date of Statehood: November 2, 1889 Capital: Pierre Motto: Under God, the People Rule Tree: Black Hills Spruce Bird: Chinese Ring-necked Pheasant Interesting Facts In 1874, a military expedition into the Lakota-owned Black Hills led by General George Armstrong Custer confirmed the existence of gold. Although the mission violated the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, which had guaranteed the Sioux rights to their sacred territory and established the Great Sioux Reservation, the area was flooded by thousands of miners, triggering the Black Hills War of 1876. The original design for Mount Rushmore National Memorial included Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt from head to waist, but Sculptor Gutzon Borglum, who had begun work on the monument in 1927, died before the work was completed, in 1941, and Congress cut off funding as the nation became faced with World War I.

A memorial to the Lakota leader Crazy Horse in South Dakota’s Black Hills is designed to be the largest statue in the world when it is completed. Dedicated by sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski and Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear on June 3, 1948, the mountain carving will extend 563 feet high and 641 feet long. In June 1998, Crazy Horse’s 87-foot head was completed. On February 27, 1973, members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) occupied a trading post at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in protest over corruption within the Oglala Lakota’s Tribal Council and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The Siege at Wounded Knee, as it became known, lasted 71 days and resulted in the deaths of two Indians following the daily gunfire between AIM members and federal officers. Agriculture is South Dakota’s top industry, generating one-third of the state’s overall economic activity. Although its main crops are corn, soybeans, wheat and hay, South Dakota leads the nation in the production of bison and pheasants.

Ninety-eight percent of the state’s farms are family owned and operated. Badlands National Park covers 244,000 acres and contains one of the world’s richest fossil beds. Tags Travel to Mount Rushmore; Beholding monuments and parks in South Dakota’s Black Hills Beholding monuments and parks in South Dakota’s Black Hills By John Gottberg Anderson / For the Bulletin Published Apr 20, 2014 at 12:11AM If you go Information Rapid City Convention & Visitors Bureau. 444 Mt. Rushmore Road N., Rapid City, S.D.; 605-718-8484, 800-487-3223, Lodging Adoba Hotel. 445 Mt. Rushmore Road, Rapid City, S.D.; 605-348-8300, . Rates from $89, after Memorial Day from $159. Alex Johnson Hotel. 523 Sixth St., Rapid City, S.D.; 605-342-1210, 800-888-2539, johnson.com .

Rates from $59, after Memorial Day from $89. Custer State Park Resorts. 13389 U.S. Hwy. 16A, Custer, S.D.; 605-255-2541, 888-875-0001, . Rates from $115. Dining at all four lodges. Foothills Inn. 1625 N. Lacrosse St., Rapid City, S.D.; 605-348-5640, 877-428-5666, foothillsinn.com . Rates from $39, after Memorial Day from $69. K Bar S Lodge. 434 Old Hill City Road, Keystone, S.D.; 605-666-4545, 866-522-7724, . Rates from $99, after Memorial Day from $118. Dining Black Hills Bagels. 913 Mt. Rushmore Road, Rapid City, S.D.; 605-399-1277, .

Breakfast and lunch every day. Budget. Botticelli Ristorante Italiano. 523 Main St., Rapid City, S.D.; 605-348-0089, ristorante.net. Lunch Monday to Thursday, dinner nightly. Moderate. Deadwood Social Club. 657 Main St. (upstairs), Deadwood, S.D.; 605-578-1533, . Lunch and dinner every day. Moderate. Devils Tower View. 476 Wyoming State Highway 24, Devils Towers, Wyo.; 307-476-5737, Three meals every day. Budget and moderate. Firehouse Brewing Company. 610 Main St., Rapid City, S.D.; 605-348-1915, brewing.com . Lunch and dinner every day. Moderate. Que Pasa Mexican Cantina. 501 Main St., Rapid City, S.D.; 605-716-9800, . Lunch and dinner every day. Moderate. Attractions Badlands National Park.

25216 Ben Reifel Road, Interior, S.D. (50 miles east of Rapid City); 605-745-4600, 7-day vehicle pass $15. Crazy Horse Memorial. 12151 Avenue of the Chiefs, Crazy Horse, S.D. (5 miles north of Custer); 605-673-4681, 2-day vehicle pass $10 per person, $27 for three or more; additional charge for bus tours. Custer State Park. 13329 U.S. Hwy. 16A, Custer, S.D. (28 miles south of Rapid City); 605-255-4464, Vehicle pass $15. Devils Tower National Monument. Wyoming State Highway 24, Devils Tower, Wyo. (107 miles northwest of Rapid City); 307-467-5283, 7-day vehicle pass $10. Jewel Cave National Park. 11149 U.S. Highway 16, Custer, S.D.

(52 miles southwest of Rapid City); 605-673-8300, Tour prices range from $4 to $27. The Journey Museum. 222 New York St., Rapid City, S.D.; 605-394-6923, Admission $8.25. Mount Rushmore National Memorial. 13000 State Highway 244, Keystone, S.D. (25 miles south of Rapid City); 605-574-2523, Annual parking pass $11 (cash only). Wind Cave National Park. 26611 U.S. Highway 385, Hot Springs, S.D. (65 miles south of Rapid City); 605-745-4600, Tour prices range from $7 to $23. RAPID CITY, S.D. — There can be few Americans who do not know of Mount Rushmore, the massive mountaintop monument to four U.S. presidents in the heart of South Dakota’s Black Hills. But how many also are familiar with the Crazy Horse Memorial?

This incredible tribute to a 19th-century chief of the Lakota Sioux tribe, in the works for more than 65 years, will be the largest sculpture on earth when it is completed, several decades in the future. And it’s a mere 8 miles — as the eagle flies — from Rushmore. Seeing the slow progress on Crazy Horse, a project that was launched in 1948 by sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski (1908-82), and which has been continued after his death by his widow and seven children, was a highlight of my recent visit to the Black Hills region. And that’s saying a lot, because there is so much more to see and do here. Within close proximity are five sites administered by the National Park Service — Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Wind Cave and Badlands national parks, Devils Tower and Wind Cave national monuments. Those alone could account for a full vacation, but they represent only a few of the area attractions. The regional center of Rapid City, an almost-Bend-sized community, has statues of every American president standing on 12 downtown street corners, in keeping with the Mount Rushmore theme.

Within a short drive are wildlife-rich Custer State Park, the Wild West gambling town of Deadwood, the motorcycle-riding hub of Sturgis, the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (where the notorious Wounded Knee Massacre took place), and all manner of lures for family holidays, from Reptile Gardens to the Flintstones’ Bedrock City theme park. In a three-day visit, I had to pick and choose what to see and do. But nothing captured my imagination more than the freakishly large Crazy Horse monument. When finished, it will occupy the entire side of a mountain that rises hundreds of feet above the surrounding plains. Crazy Horse Already, you can see Crazy Horse from many miles away. The face of the great warrior, who defeated General George Custer in the Battle of the Little Bighorn, is largely done; at 87 feet in height, it is nearly half again larger than the Rushmore presidents. More than 87 feet high, the face of Crazy Horse is nearly half again larger than the four presidents on Mount Rushmore. Visitor admissions and private endowments fund the project; bus tours enable supporters to get a direct view of ongoing blasting and drilling operations.

Barb Gonzalez / For The Bulletin With a little imagination, the chief’s outstretched arm might be visible, balanced upon the head of the great battle horse he rides. Sculptor Ziolkowski was hand-picked by Lakota elder Henry Standing Bear in 1947 to sculpt a native image. Encouraged by sculptor Gutzon Borglum’s Rushmore faces, which were created between 1927 and 1941, Standing Bear said: “My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know the red man has great heroes, also.' Ziolkowski, a Bostonian who had in fact worked with Borglum on Rushmore for a short time in 1939, started work on Crazy Horse in 1948 with only $174, according to his official biography. But he consistently refused federal funding, insisting that the monument be erected solely through private donation. That policy remains in place today, as visitor admissions are supplemented by endowments from benefactors such as South Dakota philanthropist T. Denny Sanford, who recently gave $10 million to the project.

Ultimately, the complex will be home to a university and museum dedicated to the native cultures of North America. That’s still a long ways away. But there remain plenty of things to view at the current visitor complex — not the least of which is a 1/34th scale model of the Crazy Horse Memorial, itself weighing an estimated 16 tons. A 1/34th-scale model of the Crazy Horse Memorial -- the warrior’s arm outstretched atop his horse -- frames the ongoing sculpture in this view from the memorial’s visitor center. The vision of sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski continues under the direction of his widow and children. Barb Gonzalez / For The Bulletin There are museum-quality displays of Indian artifacts, a replica of the sculptor’s log home and workshop, a gallery of Ziokowski’s bronzes, a restaurant and a cultural center where local tribes offer regular performances of dance and music. From the Orientation Center, bus tours follow a construction road to the base of Crazy Horse Mountain, enabling visitors a direct view of ongoing blasting and drilling operations. Those who pay a premium may continue up a steep road to the chin of the chief himself.

The rough outline of a horse’s head on Crazy Horse Mountain helps construction-site visitors to imagine work to come. Begun in 1948 as a tribute to a 19th-century Lakota Sioux chief, the memorial will be the largest sculpture on earth when it is completed, several decades from now. Barb Gonzalez / For The Bulletin Mount Rushmore For the time being, however, Mount Rushmore is the central attraction of the Black Hills region. The four presidents that it depicts, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt, were carefully chosen as representing the founding, growth, preservation and development of the United States. The granite faces, on a mountaintop 25 miles south of Rapid City, are an international symbol of American patriotism. The granite faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt comprise Gutzon Borglum’s iconic sculpture on South Dakota’s Mount Rushmore. Carved between 1927 and 1941, the faces are an international symbol of American patriotism. Barb Gonzalez / For The Bulletin In fact, they were first conceived as an idea to draw tourists to off-the-beaten-track South Dakota.

In 1923, state historian Doane Robinson perceived a parade of Indian leaders and American explorers who helped to shape the frontier. But Borglum, who previously had worked on a massive sculpture at Stone Mountain, Ga., elevated the proposal to a national level, convincing the federal government to provide 84 percent of the nearly $1 million he required to undertake the project. Exhibits in the visitor center at Mount Rushmore describe how Borglum began with plaster models of the four faces, dynamited chunks of granite for the broad forms, then fine-tuned the images with hammers, drills and wedges. A 14-minute film sets the tone and the words of the four chosen presidents illuminate American history of their respective times. A promenade featuring the flags of all 50 U.S. states opens to a view of the sculpture itself. A visitor approaches the Mount Rushmore visitor center through an avenue of flags that represent all 50 American states. The four presidents were chosen to represent the founding, growth, preservation and development of the United States, as explained in a short film here.

Barb Gonzalez / For The Bulletin In summer, trails lead past Borglum’s studio to a viewing site near the talus slope below the faces, and an evening ceremony, during which the faces are illuminated, is held nightly in an outdoor amphitheater. Rapid City The patriotic spirit carries through to Rapid City, whose 68,000 people have dubbed it the “City of Presidents.' They have good reason: Between 1999 and 2010, six artists with ties to South Dakota sculpted life-size bronzes of each American president from Washington through George W. Bush. (Barack Obama will be added when he completes his term of office.) They stand, between two and four to a corner, from Fourth to Ninth Street and along the two main downtown arterials, Main Street and St. Joseph Street. Several of them, including Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant and Dwight D. Eisenhower, are depicted in their military uniforms. Ronald Reagan is remembered on his California ranch. Abe Lincoln and John Kennedy play with their sons. President John F.

Kennedy (1961-63) plays with his young son, John, Jr., in a sculpture at the corner of Eighth and Main streets in Rapid City. Life-size bronzes of all 42 U.S. presidents are placed through downtown Rapid City, which envisions itself as the “City of Presidents.' Barb Gonzalez / For The Bulletin An information center at Sixth and Main streets offers detailed information on all of the sculptures and artists. Rapid City devotes particular attention to the arts beyond the presidents. Japanese sculptor Masayuki Nagase is working with the downtown Dahl Arts Center to create a 21-piece granite monument (“Passage of Wind and Water') in Main Street Square. Art Alley, between Sixth and Seventh, Main and St. Joseph streets, is a treasure trove of officially sanctioned graffiti art. Art Alley,' an officially sanctioned oasis of graffiti art in the heart of Rapid City, is symbolic of the commitment to the arts made by this community of 68,000 people. Another highlight is Masayuki Nagase’s granite “Passage of Wind and Water,' rising in Main Street Square.

Barb Gonzalez / For The Bulletin Shops such as Prairie Edge display a wide range of museum-quality Native American arts and crafts. And at The Journey Museum, cutting-edge art exhibits find a home amid galleries devoted to geology, paleontology archeology and pioneer history. The excellent museum is adjoined by the Western Dakota Native Garden, a great place for seasonal color. Wildlife and caves The best destination for wildlife lovers is Custer State Park. Although there are Rocky Mountain goats at Mount Rushmore and bighorn sheep in the Badlands, the most certain place to find herds of bison (buffalo), pronghorn, elk, deer and wild burros — along with large colonies crowd-pleasing prairie dogs — is Custer. A wild burro approaches a slow-moving, out-of-state car along the Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park. The park features several scenic drives, including the winding, 14-mile Needles Highway, which passes through a section of granite pillars en route to serene Sylvan Lake. Barb Gonzalez / For The Bulletin The 71,000-acre park is best accessed via U.S.

Highway 16A, 40 miles south of Rapid City and just east of the community of Custer. Several scenic driving routes sweep through its rolling prairie and pine-studded mountains. Most popular is the winding, 14-mile Needles Highway, which passes through a section of granite pillars en route to serene Sylvan Lake. Those who travel the Iron Mountain Road encounter tunnels that frame a distant Mount Rushmore, while the Wildlife Loop sweeps through the principal bison ranges in the park. A matronly American bison keeps a close eye on younger herd members along the Wildlife Loop drive in Custer State Park. More than 1,500 head of bison, also known as buffalo, live in the 71,000-acre park, whose facilities include four lodges and a summer playhouse. Barb Gonzalez / For The Bulletin Four park lodges and a summer playhouse enhance a visitor experience that also includes opportunities to hike, ride horses, go canoeing and fly fish. Immediately south of Custer State Park is Wind Cave National Park, whose intriguing centerpiece extends beneath more than 33,000 acres of wildlife-rich prairie and woodland.

The deep cavern, so named for the whistling winds that blow in or out of its entrance based upon changes in barometric pressure, is well known for its boxwork, a calcite formation that resembles honeycomb. Displays in the visitor center describe the underground formations and offer a primer on early cave history and exploration. I didn’t make it to Wind Cave on this visit, opting instead to walk through Jewel Cave National Monument, which I had not previously toured. I was rewarded with a guided, 90-minute view of a labyrinthine maze of corridors whose extent remains unknown: Its 166 miles of charted passages are estimated to be no more than 5 percent of what may actually exist. A Park Service ranger descends hundreds of steps into Jewel Cave to begin a 90-minute tour of its maze of corridors. More than 166 miles of passages have been charted at the national monument, and spelunkers estimate that is no more than 5 percent of what may actually exist. Barb Gonzalez / For The Bulletin Discovered in 1900, preserved by the government eight years later, Jewel Cave was named for its limestone chambers lined with jewel-like crystals of glittering calcite.

Visitors see layers of these formations, some of them labeled “dogtooth' or “nailhead' for their appearance. There are also walls of flowstone, 3-foot-long draperies and delicate soda-straw stalactites. Jewel-like crystals of glittering dogtooth calcite adorn a subterranean grotto in Jewel Cave National Monument. The limestone cavern is also notable for its walls of flowstone, three-foot-long draperies and delicate soda-straw stalactites. Barb Gonzalez / For The Bulletin While the road to Jewel Cave (U.S. Highway 16, 13 miles west of Custer) is subject to construction delays this spring and summer, the cavern is a worthy destination for a half-day trip. Travelers should call ahead for tour reservations. Go west, young man Deadwood is known to many as the setting of a popular HBO television series of a few years ago, and as the town where “Wild Bill' Hickok was gunned down at a poker table holding a full house of aces and eights. But more than that, Deadwood is an authentic gold-mining town of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The entire community (pop. 1,200) is a designated National Historic Landmark, and that includes Mount Moriah Cemetery, where the graves of Hickok (1837-76) and “Calamity Jane' Canary (1856-1903) rest side by side, overlooking the town. For better or worse, nothing is more responsible for Deadwood’s modern revival than gambling. Funds for historic preservation have poured into city coffers since 1989, when the first casinos opened after gaming was legalized. That was great for restoring the facades of dozens of buildings, dating back nearly to the 1875 founding of the community. A 19th-century hotel is one of dozens of downtown Deadwood buildings whose restoration was enabled by funds from 25 years of gambling income. Settled as a wild-and-woolly gold-mining center in the 1870s, Deadwood today has more than 30 casinos on its streets. Barb Gonzalez / For The Bulletin But today, more than 30 casinos and 3,500 slot machines leave a visitor wondering if he is in a latter-day Reno.

Deadwood is 40 miles northwest of Rapid City via Interstate 90 and U.S. Highway 14A. Travelers exit I-90 at Sturgis, where an internationally renowned motorcycle rally brings nearly half a million bikers to the town of 6,600 in early August, as it has done annually since 1941. Most times of year, travelers will continue further west into Wyoming, to Devils Tower National Monument, 107 miles from Rapid City via I-90 and state highways. Made famous in the 1977 Steven Spielberg movie, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,' the 1,267-foot monolith, which rises high above the prairies, was such a landmark that it was honored as the very first U.S. national monument by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. A northeastern Wyoming landmark and America’s first national monument, Devils Tower rises 1,267 feet above the surrounding plain. Lakota Sioux called it “Bear Lodge,' believing that the claws of a great bear created the columnar striations in the walls of the rock.

Barb Gonzalez / For The Bulletin On a 1.3-mile walk through ponderosa-pine woodland around the base of the tower, I learned the role Devils Tower played in ancient Lakota Sioux legend. Their lore tells of a great bear who assaulted seven sisters as they were safely elevated into the heavens (as the Big Dipper); myth says the bear’s claws created the columnar striations in the walls of the rock. Indeed, the native people knew the rock as “Bear Lodge.' And to the east It’s 52 miles, less than an hour’s drive, from Rapid City to Wall, a tiny community built around a roadside drugstore that became an oasis for summer travelers when it began offering free ice water in 1931. Today, you’ll see a jungle of billboards encouraging you to stop, posted for many miles in all directions. In fact, Wall Drug has become a kitschy shopping mall — and a must-stop destination only if you’re looking for a stuffed jackalope toy for a nephew. But Wall is the perfect place to pick up State Highway 240, also known as the Badlands Loop Road.

The 39-mile route that sweeps through the northeastern parcel of the 240,000-acre Badlands National Park affords views across the barren, parched landscape from more than a dozen overlooks. Though not as colorful as Oregon’s Painted Hills, these Badlands are a place of stark peaks and gullies that extend for mile after mile into the surrounding Buffalo Gap National Grassland. Their apparent lack of any life form, animal or vegetable, is fascinating in itself. Badlands National Park covers 375 miles of barren, parched landscape east of Rapid City. From panoramic viewpoints on the Badlands Loop Road, visitors may behold vast stretches of pastel-shaded peaks and gullies that extend southward toward Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Barb Gonzalez / For The Bulletin In fact, many creatures live here — birds, reptiles, even larger animals — and spring wildflowers speak to the resident foliage. The fossil history is even richer, as explained at the Ben Reifel Visitor Center in the Cedar Pass area. Several short trails extend from here. Bighorn rams face off on a bluff in the Cedar Pass section of Badlands National Park.

Visitors to the park may keep their eyes open for ancient fossils as they hike several short trails that extend into the bleak wilderness from the Ben Reifel Visitor Center. Barb Gonzalez / For The Bulletin The southern section of Badlands National Park is enveloped by the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, larger than the states of Rhode Island and Delaware combined. Home to an estimated 28,000 Oglala Lakota Sioux, the reservation was the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre — the U.S. Army staged a pre-emptive strike upon messianic “Ghost Dancers,' killing scores of natives, including a great many women and children. The last major encounter between the cavalry and Indians, the event is now considered to mark the end of an era. It seems fitting to conclude a Black Hills visit at Pine Ridge. It was, after all, the home of Crazy Horse, the Oglala Lakota warrior whose visage is now rising above the Black Hills. “Where are your lands now?' he was asked during captivity shortly before his murder. “My lands are where my dead lie buried,' he replied.

— Reporter: janderson@bendbulletin.com Lodging (4 nights with breakfast), Adoba Hotel, Rapid City: $394.28 Four lunches: $36.64 The history of the Crazy Horse Monument Contact Us Crazy Horse Monument Fiercely dedicated to his people and a hero to the Lakota Sioux Indians, Crazy Horse was the natural choice for the largest sculpture in the world dedicated to honoring the Native American Indians. Located in South Dakota’s Black Hills not far away from Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Monument is a work in progress, started back in 1948! Crazy Horse had a vision and was devoted to preserving the culture and traditions of his people. He died young, at the hands of an American solider who stabbed him in the back. Because of his humility and valor, his spirit lives on in the land and the many stories handed down through generations of Lakota Sioux Indians. The Crazy Horse Monument embodies this proud heritage of the Native American people. Lakota Chief Standing Bear and sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski started the ball rolling in 1946 by identifying Thunderhead Mountain as the place to create the Crazy Horse Monument.

By 1948, the first explosives were detonated to start sculpting the rock face. Much like the construction of Mount Rushmore, the monument is being created in a special explosive engineering process. Holes have to be drilled in order to place the charges and punch through the rock. This action helps shape the rock. A special torch creates the smooth finish of the monument. Even though the sculptor died in the 1980s, the work on Crazy Horse Monument continues and lives on through his family. With only private donations and paid tours, the sculpting process is slow but steady. There is also a museum and cultural arts center associated with the monument and is open to the public. While the work may take many more years, the dedication to completing the Crazy Horse Monument serves only to honor the life of this great warrior and that of his Native American people, both past and present. Crazy Horse Memorial – Custer, South Dakota | Atlas Obscura See more things to do in South Dakota » In 1948, Zió?kowski began work on a carved memorial to Crazy Horse, a Lakota war hero who fought and died battling the United States government at the turn of the 19th century.

The mountain Zió?kowski was given to carve was located a scant eight miles from Mount Rushmore. Though Zió?kowski passed away in 1982, work continues on the Crazy Horse memorial. The face of the sculpture, a towering 87 feet, was dedicated in 1998. When completed, the sculpture will stand 641 feet long and 563 feet tall making it the world;’s largest sculpture by far. For a size comparison, the head of Crazy Horse alone is 27 feet taller then the six story heads of Mount Rushmore. In fact, if you were to stack all the heads of Mount Rushmore on top of one another they tower of presidential noggins still wouldn’t reach half the height of Crazy Horse. The horse head alone could easily fit two of Lincoln’s inside of it. Work continues sixty years after Zió?kowski begun and is currently progressing on the horse’s head. In June, the Memorial hosts an open house where people are allowed on the mountain with as many as 15,000 people showing up. Ironically today almost all the local Native American tribes do not support the monument.

In the words of Lakota medicine man Lame Deer, “The whole idea of making a beautiful wild mountain into a statue of him is a pollution of the landscape. It is against the spirit of Crazy Horse.” The Indian Museum of North America and the Native American Cultural Center are located nearby, with a large collection of objects that tell the story of the culture, tradition, and heritage of Native Americans. The museum display the flags of all the Native American tribes, as well as a collection of paintings by Andrew Standing Soldier and Hobart Keith, and photographs from the 19th century. The museum also hosts many cultural activities and offers hands-on experiences to its visitors in the Education and Cultural Center.

Question: Which American Indian Lakota chief is the subject of a monument, begun in 1948, in the Black Hills of South Dakota?
Answer: CRAZY HORSE